75 Years of Constituent Assembly’s 1st Sitting

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• The Constituent Assembly of India had held its first meeting 75 years ago on December 9, 1946.

• The first sitting of the Constituent Assembly was Presided over by Dr Sachchidananda Sinha who was introduced and conducted to the chair by Acharya Kriplani.

• The idea of a constituent assembly was first proposed in 1934 by M.N. Roy.

• On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to prepare a Draft Constitution for India.

• The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November, 1949 and came into force on 26 January, 1950.

• The Constitution of India was handwritten and calligraphic in both English and Hindi.

• It was entirely handcrafted by the artists of Shantiniketan under the guidance of Acharya Nandalal Bose, with the calligraphy texts done by Prem Behari Narain Raizada in Delhi.

• It is the world’s lengthiest written Constitution which had 395 Articles, 22 Parts and 8 Schedules at the time of its commencement.

• The original copies of the Constitution of India are kept in special helium-filled cases in the Library of the Parliament of India.